Blue Beetle: DCInfinity
by Bowie Sessions
Summary: A tangential story based in the DCInfinity fanfic imprint, this story follows Jaime Reyes in his newfound position of weirdmagicalbeetlearmorpossessor and just what it means for him, El Paso, and the world.
1. Chapter 1

PREVIOUSLY … Jaime Reyes received the mysterious scarab thought to belong to Dan Garrett by accident when it was scattered to the far corner of the world – El Paso Texas – in the wake of the wizard Shazam!'s death. Bonding to Jaime, the Scarab revealed heretofore unheard of power and became instrumental in the discovery and defeat of Brother Eye along with the rest of Batman's strike team. Phasing out of the ship in space, Jaime plummeted into our orbit and crash-landed somewhere in the South of the United States, where Guy Gardner/Green Lantern found him. The Oan Power Ring went insane at the presence of Blue Beetle and attempted to kill him. Fighting Guy to a standstill, Guy got control of his mind back from the ring and fled. Leaving Jaime lost, confused, naked and having to find his way home.

NOTE: This story takes place during the One Year Gap.

------

Imagine waking up to find an ancient living artifact had grafted itself to you. Imagine that it granted you unbelievable and unexplained powers, making you fill shoes you never wanted. Imagine being a teenager who saved the world only to have to explain it to your parents. Imagine if your world was forever changed. Sound cool? He'll trade you.

BLUE BEETLE: DCINFINITY

vol. 1, issue 1: "Blue Monday"

written by Bowie Sessions

"The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different." – Aldous Huxley

somewhere

Where I am reminds me of home, just not quite. Lots of plains and stuff, but it's not the same. I'm guessing I'm near, though. East Texas? New Mexico? Arizona for all I know. "Hey. Uh. Blue Beetle Rock. If you could … if I could get those wings back, and we could fly home, that'd be … really cool." I think the crickets I hear are native to the area, but they remain sadly appropriate.

What time is it, even? I sigh and stare into the distant lights of that near city and decide to start make the hike. Get over it, Jaime. Pull yourself together. Stop freaking out. Stop freaking out. "HELLOOOOOO!" I scream, hearing nothing but my own echoing voice. The crickets stop, though.

I start running down the hill, towards the highway. I feel tired. I feel like I just went six rounds with a Green Lantern. Oh, wait, I did. I hit the slope of dirt and lose my footing, sending me sliding uncontrollably down the hill. Tripping as I go, I hit the ground and start rolling and skidding uncontrollably. I hit the asphalt of the highway with a wet smack, and feel the cuts, bruises, and newfound road-rash along my hands and knees. Groaning quietly, I shake my head, and realize I'm bathed in a bright white light.

Am I in Heaven?

Then a massive horn is blown and I hear rubber screeching across asphalt. My eyes snap open and I try to get to my feet. That's not St. Peter. That's an 18-wheeler. "Ohsh—"

It comes to a complete stop, just as I stand on my two shaky feet. I stare in horror at the sight before me of the grill maybe a foot in front of me. I saved the world, fought Green Lantern, only to be killed by the Pepsi guy. Almost.

"Hey," I hear his voice as he leans out the front cab.

"You okay, kid?"

That's a loaded question. "Uh. I've been better, thanks."

"Do you need … help?" he asks, hesitantly, staring out at the naked Mexican in his headlights that he turns to dims as an afterthought.

"…yeah, really kinda do. Like, maybe a ride? And… uh … pants?"

El Paso, Texas – Home of the Reyes Family

I wave to the trucker as he drives off and I hike two blocks to my house in a pair of ratty jeans and a flannel t-shirt. Not exactly high fashion, but I'm not being picky. I find my house and try the front door. Locked. Eyeing the doorbell, I give it a serious thought before I decide to walk around back and try my window. Unlocked – makes this easy. Prying it open, I climb inside and breathe deeply. Made it back, no big deal, now I'm home safe and sound.

I do the only reasonable thing someone in my position could do. I strip off my clothes and collapse into bed, pulling my sheet up over me and falling asleep the second my head hits the pillow. Long day.

…

I wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs. That's my favorite things to wake up to, forget Folger's. I pull on a pair of pajamas and stumble towards the bathroom while everyone else is eating. I make it quick, shower, brush my teeth and straighten my hair before I go back to my room and put on some of my own clothes and my spare sneakers.

In about ten minutes, I'm walking out to the breakfast table to see my family arrayed around the table, three places set and eating. Their every action stops as soon as they see me, plates 'klink'ing as forks and spoons collide with ceramic. My mother drops the two drinks she was bringing to the table, shattering them against the floor. "JAIME!" she screams, her eyes wide. My father rushes across the distance, knocking over his chair and swooping me up in his arms. He hugs me tight and lifts me up off the ground.

"Uhm. Good to see you guys, too," I offer weakly at the overenthusiastic morning greeting by my parents.

"Where have you _been_?" My mother cries as she hurries over, ignoring the disaster on the kitchen floor. Even my lil' sis Milagro comes to tears and runs over to me to grab me by my lower torso and snuggle tight from behind.

"I was in … the shower…" is the only answer I have to this weird assault. They act like I've been gone forever.

"You've been gone forever!" my father verifies, letting me go and looking me in the eyes. He's in tears. My FATHER is in tears. One time I was a kid, dad and I were riding bikes. Taking a curb wrong, my dad crashed and slammed his head into concrete, developing a steady trickle of blood from his skull. He stood up, coughed and told me he didn't need me to help him up. Same dad, five years later, is crying over me at breakfast. I'm worried.

"What do you mean? I know I got in late, but—"

"Late? You've been gone since Wednesday!" my mother cuts in, crying out angrily and joyously all at once.

"Making this Thursday, yeah, I know," I counter, shrugging out of my dad and Milagro's grip as I can't help but puzzle their weirdness.

My father, mother and Milagro are all silent as they stare at me in confusion, before Milagro offers her first words of the morning, "…Jaime, it's Monday."

I can't say I'm not shocked. Oh God, I've been gone like a week now. What the hell kind of excuse can I even try to give them? I disappeared in the morning on Wednesday. I had this great excuse about Paco and Brenda taking me on Senior Skip Day early or something… but there isn't much in the way of a 'Senior Skip Week', no. "I… uh … I need to … get to school…"

It's the best I can think to say as I duck past them, slinging my bookbag over my shoulder and heading out the door away from a stunned family.

"JAIME!" I hear cry out, as the door slams behind me.

School Bus; en route to school

It's weird getting on the bus. The last time I got on this bus, I was just Ol' Fashioned Jaime. Now I'm Jaime Reyes, The Blue Beetle, Savior of Earth and Screw-Up of the Reyes Residence. Weirding this out even more is that I've mysteriously skipped out on the two people I care most about--

"Jaime!" cries out Brenda, concerned.

"Where've you been!" Paco pitches in while they both gesture me to the back of the bus. Big ol' Paco forces another kid to get up and move, clearing a space for me. I sit with them and offer a forced smile, running a hand through my mess of hair.

"Uh, hello! Earth to Jaime! You've been gone like _forever_!" Brenda reminds, waiting for any response.

Weakly, I grin to both of them while thinking of just how I'm supposed to explain what happened to me. I don't have to lie to them, do I? They're my best friends and they'll stick with me. "Remember that whole … beetle rock thing we found? The weird stuff I said I saw? It kinda … went crazy and I – seriously. What? Why are you looking at me like – I'm serious! The world went crazy, I had to go to outer space with Batman and save Earth and then Green Lantern tried to kill me after I got back and – I'm not kidding!"

Paco stares in confusion that turns to anger when I apparently don't correct myself. "We were really worried about you," Brenda answers for them both.

"Kinda were hoping you'd be straight with us."

"I almost died! I had to hitchhike home naked. I'm not joking!"

They just stare at me some more. "You skipped prom. Gina was _pissed_," Paco tells me, flippantly.

"That was Friday!" I say, with surprise.

Paco rolls his eyes, before he answers me, "Yeah. We _know_. We were _there_. You were off 'in space' with _Superman_."

I don't think before I correct him, "Superman wasn't there." I don't think I won points with that one.

The ride to school is silent the rest of the way. The sign I haven't seen in a week – BOWIE HIGH, greets us: Once a Bear, Always a Bear.

Whatever.

Bowie High School, First Period

"—now if you'll all please take seats, I'll begin passing out the—" my math teacher begins as I get out my books.

"Mr. Reyes, put your books away, we're having a test. If you were here last week, maybe you'd have known," Mrs. Kendrick fixes me with an evil glare as I slide my books back away, taking out a pencil and sighing in frustration. I am so dead.

"Mrs. Kendrick, I had a family emergency, my uncle died and we had to go the funeral--"

She stops me before I can finish, venom in her voice. "Your parents called here every day looking for you, even came by in person and asked me if I'd seen you – Mr. Reyes, it's your life to ruin if you want to. But I'm not going to tolerate your lies. Please leave this class and come back when you're feeling more honest."

I sit in shock for several seconds. It passes and I realize just how screwed I am. Putting my pencils away in my bag and standing up, I cuss under my breath. I realize the mistake instantly and she snaps her eyes to me like daggers. "In fact, Mr. Reyes, I think you need to take this note to the Principal."

I cuss again.

Principal's Office

The principal, a middle-aged woman who breaks stereotype by not wearing any glasses, greets me as soon as I open the door, eyes casting up to me. "Mr. Reyes," she greets, acknowledging me as if she hadn't just called her secretary to tell me to go in.

"Hey – uh, hi, ma'am," I offer as firmly as I can.

"Can you tell me why you've been called into this office?" she asks and so I begin to supply the note that she takes from me quickly. I sink into my chair a bit, nervously looking around the office.

"I disrupted class," I tell her, blankly.

"What did you do that was disruptive?" is her staged question.

I shrug my shoulders before responding, "I lied and said I skipped class because of a family emergency, and couldn't take the test cuz I wasn't ready cuz of it. She told me to leave class. I kinda, y'know, swore. Cuz it pissed me off. So she sent me to see you."

There is a long silence as she looks over my attendance records and grades. "You're doing very well in classes this semester, Jaime. Your SATs are high enough for almost any college you could want. Just think about that, especially when you come in for detention after school."

I groan. She endures it.

Bowie High School, Second to Third Period

Is there a word for how tired I am right now? I'm trying to endure Mr. Harmon's American History class, and am wavering desperately. I don't hear a word, but somehow I manage to keep my eyes open and answer the questions correctly when called to do so. I don't really think I'm fully cognizant of what I even say; maybe it's just a lucky guess, but it seems to make the teacher happy and leave me alone to keep wrestling with the Nap Monster.

That's one hour down, but it's the next class where I truly hurt. I hate Science, but I keep attentive as best I can. Mondays are my heaviest class days. I start to nod off and behind my eyes I see flashes of blood spraying across my face. I see dreams of a variety of strangely colored shells on the backs of Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rexes, thriving… I see fire… I see the image of a flying man in some classic-Egypt-movie clothes. The world spins and all I can hear is – "Mr. REYES!"

Someone nudges me and my eyes blink open. Oh, God, I fell asleep. "Mr. Savad?" I ask, with a wince, shrinking back in my chair.

"Thank you for…" I swear I can hear him. I'm not asleep anymore, am I? I don't think so. All I know is that as I glance around I see out the window four people dressed in black, wearing sunglasses and covered in weird tattoos … beating someone to death.

"Oh my God! You've got to stop them!" I cry out, desperately, leaping out of my seat and running to the window. The room erupts in action and people launch to the windows to see what I'm talking about, while the teacher insists we all settle down.

"There's nothing there…" a few whisper, and the teacher looks out to see what I'm screaming about.

"They're RIGHT THERE! Can't you see them? They're KILLING him! Right now—right outside!" I beg them to see, and point right at it.

The teacher isn't taking any of it. "Mr. Reyes, please sit down!"

I force the window open and scream, "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" The four of them suddenly stop, and turn to stare at me, right in the eyes. One of them takes down their sunglasses. They have no eyes.

All of them turn to run, and I'm pulled back in by the collar. "Mr. Reyes, report to the Principal."

I swear again.

Principal's Office

"I'm not lying to you! I saw it right there. There was four people in all black, with—" I decide to skip the 'no eyes' situation, "—sunglasses, they were trying to kill someone!"

"We looked into it," she tells me. "There was no one there. Your entire class room was looking at the same place and no one saw anything, Mr. Reyes."

"…fine. Whatever. Let someone die on your school campus. See if I care!"

There is a frozen silence between us, while she examines my sincerity and studies her own limits for frustrating students. She finishes her evaluation, apparently.

"You were doing so very well in classes," she begins. "Is this really the way you want to begin your adult life? I don't want to see you back in here at all this week. Is that perfectly understood? I want you to go see the nurse. Maybe you have a fever. I really want to believe you're just sick. Please leave, before I lose my patience."

She gestures at the door. I sigh, and force myself out of the chair, walking down the hall to the Nurse's Office.

Bowie High School Campus

The classes passed slowly, especially since I wasn't in all of them – the Nurse's office was a long process before she pronounced me 'healthy but maybe insane' and referred me to the school counselor. That was an incredibly awkward conversation. Finally, it was my lunch period … and I realized I had no way to pay for it and no meal card. After a few people lent me a dollar, I was able to buy a burger and a soda from the BK in the cafeteria and head outside to hunt down my friends.

Fortunately, I find just who I'm looking for. "Paco, Brenda, there you guys are!" I call out to them with relief as I hustle over, moving to quickly sit with them at their bench. They look a mixture of surprised and annoyed as I sit.

"Hey, look, I wanted to – I wanted to prove to you what we were talking about, about how—"

"How you were in space with Wonder Woman?"

"Wonder Woman wasn't there, either, it was just Batm—look, I'm serious. I need you guys to understand. I need to tell _someone_ about all this craziness. I can't … I can't handle this on my own, just … please. Before you totally decide I'm a jerk, just – let me show you, okay?" Paco and Brenda look between each other and make their distinctive nervous gestures, scratching their head and examining their thumb respectively.

"Make it quick, we've got next period in a few minutes," Brenda allows with a smile. I don't waste a minute as I get up and lead them out of here.

"Where are we going?" Paco asks.

I stop and look at him, to explain the obvious, "Hey. I'm a superhero, okay? I need to keep this a secret."

"Yeah, whatever, dude. And Superman's a superhero – he doesn't keep his face a secret or anything."

"He's an alien! He doesn't _have_ a secret identity."

Brenda shrugs as we move behind the bleachers. "Okay. This is good enough, right? Show us. I totally don't buy it, though. But it _would be_ pretty cool to have our own superhero…"

I stand there and start focusing, clenching my fists together and breathing harshly as I try to stretch my arms and have it form… nothing. "Just one second…" I tell them to their doubting faces, as I begin making a constipated expression.

"Any second now! Come on, Blue Beetle! Blue Beetle … ON! Blue Beetle … GO! …activate interlock! Dynatherms connected! Megathrusters go! Let's form … Blue Beetle!" I say desperately, muscles tensing and relaxing as I try every trigger I know from cartoons.

They just kind of… stare at me. Brenda leans over to Paco. "You think he's finally totally lost it?"

"Totally," he whispers back.

Somewhere Else

"He knows of us," they whisper, staring through trees to the site of a young Mexican making weird arm gestures and yelling at himself, with a freckled young Irish girl and an oversized Mexican boy watching.

"How? No one can see our kind. We're at the edges of life."

"This one folds it inward. He sees through the barrier. He might be our answer. He might be our way out."

They do not look at each other. There's no reason to; none of them have eyes.

Bowie High School Campus

"Beetle Form Activate!" I futilely try again and then sigh, quitting. I look around and my eyes stop on Paco.

"Oh, this worked when I met Batman – punch me!" Paco does as I ask, and I double over when he hits me in the gut. I gasp, eyes wide and hold myself.

"…okay… didn't work…" I breathe, trying to pull myself back together.

Paco snickers. "I don't know. Made me feel pretty good," he says with a maliciously joking smile on his lips. Brenda elbows him.

I try to think outside the box as I stand up fully. "Brenda … you got that taser?" I ask after a minute. She looks at me wildly and then nods slowly. I gesture for it. She looks at me even crazier, but gets it out and hands it to me from her purse. Taking it, I look at the controls and breathe as calmly as possible.

"The voice in me, it gets … idunno, hungry, when it sees batteries and stuff, so I bet—" I thumb the trigger, trying to psyche myself up.

"Jaime, no! The joke's over!" Paco says, rushing towards me.

"I'm not joking," I state before I shove it into my stomach and hit the button. ZZZAKT! I convulse for a second, electricity amping through me until suddenly…

I briefly scream in pain and buckle to my knees, dropping the drained taser as a blue carapace erupts over me, a pack hooking over my shoulders from my spine and sending a thin layer to coat my arms and face hastily. I come to my feet and look at them both with a quirked smile.

"Believe me now?"

They stare at each other and then back at me. "Dude…"

The five-minute bell rings. I shake my head and focus tightly, while they just stare in horror, not awe. I collapse to my knees again only to start sweating and crying, holding my fist in my mouth to stop from screaming in pain as the beetle retracts into me. I can't even describe the sensation. It's as if the armor is cutting through my flesh to hide underneath it.

I am shaking and sweating when Paco steps forward to help me up. "I don't think that's a power, Jaime. I think … I think that rock did something to you … made you, like, a monster, like—"

"I'm not a monster," I protest, snapping angrily. Partly from the pain. Partly from denial.

"Okay, we just … we all gotta get to class," Brenda reminds us. We split paths, and rush back to school campus.

Deep in the woods behind us, four people dressed all in black with sunglasses smile.

But you wouldn't see them if you looked.

Home of the Reyes Family

School ended, but I didn't feel like coming home to questions and accusations again. I've had enough of it for the day, even if I knew I had to face it at home eventually. I studied at the library after detention was over and lost myself in doing homework I'm way behind in… until my stomach started to burn. I thought about getting some burger or something – until I realized I was still broke.

Which is why I came home, I guess. Its dinnertime and I let myself in, bookbag slung around my back. Taking it off over my shoulder, I drop it by the door and walk in to he dining room, hands firmly and guiltily stationed inside my pockets.

There is a pregnant silence as my family stares at me. Accusation and hurt is evident in all their eyes. "We tried to call you," my mom offers quietly.

"I … don't have my cellphone. I lost it when I was gone," I give them the truth to that. I think it burned up on re-entry somehow underneath my armor. My armor keeps my clothes on normally. I know that much.

There is a long silence, and my dad kicks out the chair at the end where my place is set. I move into the extended chair and sit, not able to meet their eyes while I pull it forward and consider the food.

"Would you like something to drink?" My dad asks, his voice a very carefully regulated rage. I nod my head nervously.

"What're you thirsty for…" his eyes close, fist clenching as he stops at the threshold to the kitchen.

"Where the HELL were you! We thought you were KIDNAPPED! That you were DEAD! Not so much as a word! Do you know we spoke to the police EVERY DAY you were gone! Did you know that!"

I can't remember ever feeling smaller than I do right now. Do I have a super power to make them okay? I wonder if I have some kind of mesmerism, that'd be handy about now.

"ANSWER me when I speak to you, Jaime!"

"No, sir," I whisper out, face turned towards my plate. I move to try to get something to eat and my father rushes over. He slaps the spatula out of my hand, picks up the meatloaf dish and hurls it. The glass shatters and meatloaf smears across the dining room wall.

"I should beat you like my father did me! I told your mother you were smart, responsible – maybe could give you a job! But look at you. LOOK AT YOU! You just … leave! Leave everything! Not so much as a word!" My dad's voice is pure fury.

"Let the boy explain—" my mother tries to reason with him, but he doesn't have any of it.

"Where did you go! Did you drink? Get laid? PARTY? Was it FUN? Was it _worth putting us through this_! I can not believe this. Not so much as a WORD! I can not BELIEVE you would do this to us."

"Dad, I – I didn't mean to, I just … a friend wanted to head out, and I just … did. We … went away and I just didn't think about it—"

My dad is seething, "I trusted you. WE trusted you! This is my home, and you need to respect us! You are not an adult yet, and the way it looks, I don't think I like the adult you are going to become!"

I shake my head, staring at my plate and shrinking into my seat. "Do you want me to explain, or do you want to just keep yelling at me?"

"I want to keep yelling!" My father screams, and just as suddenly falls silent. There is a long, angry silence. My family refuses to meet each others' eyes while my father picks his chair up and sits back down. Nobody moves.

"Just eat," dad orders us all quietly, voice deflated from spent anger.

"But the meatl—" I begin to ask, and one look from him is all I need to go for some extra mashed potatoes.

END

Why is Jaime dreaming of alien worlds? How will his friends handle the burden of his secret? What is going ON with those creeps only Jaime can see? Will Jaime be able to make up the work to graduate? How many licks does it take to get to the chocolaty center of a Tootsie Pop, anyway? The world may never know!

All this (maybe!) and more when Blue Beetle gets the chance to be a hero on his own. Will he meet the challenge? (Well, duh.)

See you next month, and remember, to those about to rock: We salute you.

-Bowie

Note from the Author: Having researched El Paso, I discovered their largest school is Bowie High. I could not resist. Please send all pun-justified floggings by courier.


	2. Short Insert

Here y'go, Mike.

/EL PASO, TEXAS/

There are certain things which will change you forever.

Finding religion, losing someone you love, having a child, watching someone die, getting an education, being raped, joining the Army, deep heart-break, coming into money, being crippled or otherwise mutilated permanently.

There are things in life which we can not control and those we can, things which change you and everything you touch. For a young latino boy in El Paso named Jaime Reyes staring into the distance, he knows this too well.

Jaime sits at an unimportant bus stop, his eyes closing and body collapsing into the frame of wood. The bus arrives, and slows to a stop. Forcing his body to move, Jaime barely finds the motivation to walk into the bus and swipe his bus-card to walks about half-way back and sits in an empty seat by the window, unaware of a man with short-cropped golden hair in a fashionable button-up short-sleeve shirt and designer jeans leaning forward from the seat behind him.

"Hey, Jaime," he offers, with a weary smile.

Jaime looks behind him to the man, and looks puzzled for a minute as he tries to recognize him. "Whah— wait, you're--" he almost finishes, realizing the matter as the stranger brings a pair of yellow goggles to his eyes as a hint.

"You can call me Mike," the stranger responds, standing up from his seat and moving forward. He makes a self-invitational gesture to Jaime's frustrated shrug, and sits down next to him. Jaime looks out the window as he breathes, trying to gain control of himself.

"I thought maybe you'd want to talk. You kind of ran out of there in a hurry…" Mike offers, plaintively.

But he doesn't have any of it, Jaime's eyes turning briskly from the window to speak to Mike in hushed tones. "I didn't _run_. The scarab … _took_ me out of there. It talks to me, you – do you have any idea how messed up this is making my life? I missed my prom! My family is freaking out and what do I even tell them? My friends have totally ditched me… oh, and Green Lantern tried to _kill me_!"

Mike offers a hand on Jaime's shoulder, which Jaime shrugs off in a most unfriendly manner. "Don't forget that you Saved the Universe. Look, we're all kind of surprised about – wait, it talks to you?"

Jaime's eyes narrow in amazement at Mike's priorities, re-emphasizing the matter he's most horrified over. "And Green Lantern tried to kill me!"

"Which one?"

"I don't know! The one with the really bad mop-top."

"Oh. Yeah. Guy does that sometimes."

"_Excuse_ me?" Jaime asks, eyes widening at the laisez-faire Mike offers.

"It really talks?" Mike brings the topic back to what he finds most important, ignoring Jaime's protestations. Jaime sighs a little and slumps back into his chair, once more looking out the bus window.

Quietly, Jaime begins to tell him. "I don't know. I think so. Well, yeah. I see all these weird things, and it sort of … tells me stuff. It sounds like my mom, nag nag nag. And I keep having these weird dreams of, like, dinosaurs … and weird screaming and … it keeps making me drain these D-Cell batteries… like it's hungry, like in Battieries Not Included, where they eat it--"

"Skeets loves that movie."

"Who's Skeets?"

"My little robot thing. Remember the—"

"Yeah, I remember."

Mike smiles a little bit, before getting back on topic with a question. "What kind of stuff does it tell you?"

"…just like … how to survive. It's … usually quiet, unless something happens. Like the fight with Green Lantern, or when I tried to get home from New Mexico the other week, or the Brother Eye thing or … whenever. Crises, and stuff."

"Why were you in New Mexico?"

"I landed there. Like a comet. I didn't exactly, y'know, 'up up and away' out of there during that fight. I just sorta … fell. My stop is next," Jaime informs him as he pulls down the cable to let the driver know.

Mike watches the stop approach with some hesitation. He asks the question he's avoided. "Are you gonna be okay?" This question puts Jaime into silence for awhile, blocks passing quickly.

"I don't want to do this, Booster – Mike, I mean. I … I just want to go to school, help my dad in his auto-shop, live the dream and have a family maybe and just … I never asked for this. I'm a good Christian boy. All I can think of is all the Apostles, the Saints, of Jesus, just … begging God to not let the burden be theirs. I get it now," he whispers, his voice shaky as he fights back letting his emotions bring a tear to his eyes which quickly dampen.

Booster stays quiet as the bus comes to a stop and Jaime stands. Booster stands up and gets out of the way, to let Jaime out, trying desperately to find something comforting to say. "Take your time. You don't have to be a hero yet, just --"

"Bull. Next time something happens, you'll come running and kidnap me again. How dare you even come here and ask me 'is it okay' and act like my friend, I—"

"We needed you, Jaime. Or the world would've _ended_. I'm sorry, but you're not just a kid anymore. You're the Blue Beetle whether you want it or not, and you're doing an okay job. I'll be here if you need it. Just take my card and call me when you're ready." Booster extends his card from his pocket, and Jaime stares at him. He takes the card and walks off the bus.

Booster sits back down on the bus, as a small gold orb floats next to him. --He'll be ready when the world needs him. He needed that, Sam, even if it didn't seem like it.--

"Stop calling me Sam," Booster tells the floating robot.

--You used to like Quantum Leap.--

"Oh, shut up, Skeets, I'm not in the mood," he whispers with a sad little smile, staring out the same window. Skeets stays quiet while processing, deciding to move on the subject.

--We need to be in Dallas in an hour to stop an industrial explosion.--

"Then what're we waiting for?" Booster gets off at the next stop, and flicks his watch, his armor materializing upon him. He leaps into the sky and energy coalesces around him, flying towards his fate.

Far below, _Blue & Gold Industries_ are the words imprinted on a card crumpled up into a ball and left in the trash.


	3. Chapter 2

PREVIOUSLY … Jaime Reyes received the mysterious scarab thought to belong to Dan Garrett by accident when it was scattered to the far corner of the world – El Paso Texas – in the wake of the wizard Shazam!'s death. Bonding to Jaime, he became instrumental in saving the world from Brother Eye. Jaime came back to Earth, and after fighting a frenzied GL, found his way home. Finding out he's been gone almost a week and missed senior prom, Jaime scrambles to try to salvage his life, and ends up revealing his secret to his best friends Brenda and Paco. All the while, he notices evil strangers only he can see.

NOTE: This story takes place during the One Year Gap.

------

Imagine waking up to find an ancient living artifact had grafted itself to you. Imagine that it granted you unbelievable and unexplained powers, making you fill shoes you never wanted. Imagine being a teenager who saved the world only to have to explain it to your parents. Imagine if your world was forever changed. Sound cool? He'll trade you.

BLUE BEETLE: DCINFINITY

vol. 1, issue 2: "The Jets and the Sharks"

written by Bowie Sessions

"We participate in a tragedy; at a comedy we only look."

– Aldous Huxley

Across the world, small embers of fire strike the ground from the outer atmosphere.

Slowly do animals approach them, leathery-necked dinosaurs nosing at the craters only to begin screaming. Their bodies flash, their appearances change. Faces blue and eyes golden, they breathe electricity. This breath turns to ice, it seems, as the world becomes white.

Sands appear where the white had formed over my vision. Before my eyes, I see a massive structure of stone form. Wicked eyes look down to me as the pyramid becomes vividly clear. Suddenly, I see the eyes belong to a man floating in the sky, covered in one of those Egyptian neckpieces and their little fancy-diapers.

He screams and rushes for me with both fists—

Home of the Reyes Family

"NO!" I scream and sit up suddenly. I wipe at my eyes, blinking heavily. Every time I go to sleep, I see the … weirdest things. Blinking again, I look around my room to be sure of where I am. It takes me a short walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water and back before I can convince myself that an Egyptian in a diaper is not really attacking me.

I crawl back into bed and fall back asleep, dreams thankfully eluding me for the few hours before breakfast.

…

Breakfast comes too early, I've decided. We really need to reschedule it.

I come to sit at the table again and this time I see there is a place set for me. I groggily nod my greetings to my family, who bitterly watch me. They offer me quiet snipes and impolite table manners, but I guess I deserve it in a way. After all, 'Jaime' ditched for a week, even if only because I was saving the world, but you can't really bring that up at breakfast. _Hey, dad, pass the butter. By the way, I have a magical rock that turns me into a superhero. Mm, good pancakes._

Yeah, whatever. The silence kills.

"I'm sorry," I manage to bring myself to apologize. The table that had turned to murmuring the moment I approached finally warms, if only a little bit.

My dad finally deems me worthy of conversation, holding mom's hand, as she seems to give him needed strength. I get the distinct 'they talked about this all last night' impression. "…you're grounded until graduation, and we never talk about this again. You screwed up your life by leaving before the last week of school. You'll see your own punishment from that, I guarantee you."

Relieved infinitely by what he tells me, I nod my head. "Okay, yeah, no problem, I – thank you, dad. I'm sorry I screwed up. I –"

"Yes, you screwed up. We know that well. We're just happy you're safe," Mom interjects. Dad's hand pulls back from hers.

"Yeah, well, me, I was hoping he was dead. No son of mine would leave his family like—"

"We talked about this!" Mom snaps, silencing dad. He shrugs and goes back to his food.

"I was just making conversation," he excuses himself. Milagro looks to me and smiles so wickedly.

"_I_ didn't agree to anything. I _still_ wish you never came home." I smirk to her at her mockery, and reach across the table to muss up her hair. She swings violently at my arm, and once struck I pull it back as if wounded.

"You're such a brat, Mil." The table returns to laughter, and I can't stop but feeling comfortable for the first time since this all began.

Bowie High

The bell rings.

"Mrs. Kendrick," I approach my teacher's desk impetuously and call out her name as soon as first period ends, quickly talking so I'm not late for my next class. I'm in enough hot water as it is.

My math teacher looks up to me and squares her eyes, affixing her glasses on her face properly. "I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for lying to you, and that I just … I screwed up. But I've done all the homework I missed here," I start laying it out, "and I'd like to – like to let you know I'm sorry for that test. I know I missed it and even with my A I'll fail the class, so I guess I'm begging—"

She shushes me, "Tell you what – come do it tomorrow after school and I'll grade it right there. You know this counts for a third of your grade?" She checks my GPA, looking at it on her computer. Her voice took a tone of concern at that.

"…yeah, I know, I'm sorry." Everyone else is having their tests today or tomorrow. I can't tell you I'm exactly 'very ready', but whatever. Graduation is at the end of next week.

"Take it tomorrow. You've been good all year. Two Bs. I'll let your disruption slide just this once, Jaime," she says with a soft smile. I shake her hand on it and rush off to my next class with a dismissive 'Thanks!' shouted over my shoulder.

As long as I get a D on this test, I pass her class, but I need an A or else dad'll kill me. His dreams for me are way too high… I wish I could say mine were too, but I just want to make it through high school alive.

…

During lunch, I find my way to Brenda and Paco's table and sit without concern. They both just stare at me and exchange one glance before they get up and walk away from me, coughing as if it makes it seem subtle.

"It's just … weird. I'm sorry," Paco offers weakly as they step away.

I look down to appraise myself and then back at them. "What? Is this about the – thing?" I call out after them while they walk away from me. I sigh in frustration and bury my face in my hands.

When I pull my hands back away from my face, I see Gina sitting across from me. She's a pretty Italian girl, and I stood her up for prom. I'm surprised she even sat down there. Bigger person than a lot of people would be. I cheer up, just a little bit. "Hey, Gina, I was hoping I'd run into you."

"You're an ass," she tells me and then gets back up and walks away. Well. I was kind of hoping … she was going to let me explain.

"Graduation is one week away… and then you'll never see these people ever again…" I whisper to myself.

…

I stayed late to do some additional kiss-assing to my other teachers and am about to call home for a ride. I'm picking up my cellphone to make the ring when it starts vibrating. _Paco_ it reads, showing a small picture of him with his finger up his nose making his eyes go crossed.

I heft the phone to my ear, "Yellow," I greet pleasantly. Maybe they want to talk. It'd be a start.

"I'm at my cousin Eddie's! Bring the taser!" Paco's voice pleads to me and then there's a click.

It takes me a few seconds to even process the information. "_Paco!_" I cry as soon as I snap to my senses.

"Paco! What's hap—" but all I can hear is a dial tone.

The city of El Paso, Texas

I left school and got on my bicycle to start riding furiously towards Paco's cousin Eddie's place. It's a short ride, but something in my mind tells me that it can be shorter. I stop riding and slide off the bike.

I should call the police. Heck, I should call my dad. I should call the Justice League – okay, maybe that's a little much for whatever's going on, but I heard bullets in the background when he called and I know he needs me.

I don't call any of those people. Paco called _me_ and that's because he wanted _the Blue Beetle_ to save him. Paco called _me_ because he trusts his best friend to come through when the chips are down. So I act rashly and do just as he asked.

Kneeling down, I open my backpack and fish out the taser. I slide it to my stomach and concentrate. Preparing to hit the button for the juice, I suddenly hear the alien scramble of thoughts intrude on my own again. It's getting familiar.

"Oh, you're there?" I ask as I hear some of the Scarab's opinions kind of rumble around through my brain, so I put the taser away, back in my backpack and stand up again, arms spread wide.

This thing kind of operates on its own time, but I try to give it some kind of signal.

"Okay. Well. Uh… Beetle Form… Activate…" I suggest, lamely. My scarab gets the idea, though and as usual I end up doubling over in a brief surge of pain when it erupts from beneath my vertebrae and coats my body in its hard blue protective shell, beetlepack sliding over my shoulders.

I look down the street and it tells me I'll be faster if I just hoof it. Doubtful, I give it a shot and start running. I gasp as buildings start to blur. I used to run Track & Field all the time… and I know I'm easily hitting a four-minute mile pace. Faster still, even faster with every moment – I know I break all human land-speed records as the carapace's feet _klaks_ against the concrete with each sudden impact

I'm fast as HELL! I'm like Kid Flash! This is AWESOME! As an afterthought, I realize I'm forgetting something. I stop in my tracks, turn around and race back. Grabbing up both my backpack and my bicycle, I opt to _carry them_ as I start running again, faster than ever. I can hear gunfire now. It points me to Eddie's place, though I know the way. We used to go there for barbeques.

It's turning out Eddie wasn't the best of people, I'm thinking.

Once I find the street, I see a car parked outside of Eddie's place with three men firing from over its top, peppering the wall of his house. I can hear the zings and snaps of bullet-fire and I know what this is. This is an execution.

Without hesitating, I run towards the car. "Hey! Knock that off!" I yell out at them chidingly. The only response I get is rapid-fire cuss words and rapid-fire bullets. I duck desperately, before I realize I've been shot and it doesn't even hurt. Keep forgetting I'm a superhero now.

The bullets ricochet off my carapace, which seems to barely register them. Instinctually, I find myself hurling my bicycle at them.

"Aw, man—" I complain as I see my bicycle fly free of my hand. It covers the gap between the group and me before I even realize I did it. It roughly slams into one of them with bone-breaking force. I see the tire warp on impact with him and then slide underneath their car. The other two of the gang-bangers rushes into the vehicle, desperate to escape.

"Gas it! The freak's coming for us!" I hear them cry as I rush out to meet them. With no better plan, I grab the back of the car as they start to drive off and plant my feet firmly. I strain, neck tightening and arms tensing powerfully as I force myself to withstand the effort … and on instinct of some kind I find myself rolling the vehicle sideways, slamming it onto its roof like a turtle on its back. I hear the squealing of more tires coming. I bet you anything, more gunfire is about to show up.

Reinforcements, I wonder? For Eddie or against Eddie? I don't even know. I don't bother to ask, only sparing a look at my car-crushed bike before I rush into Eddie's place, kicking down the door on my way in. Eddie turns and releases a shotgun blast into my stomach on paranoid reflex. The pellets don't do a thing except cause me to crap my pants. Except, not literally… I think.

"…that was … scary," I relate, patting at my struck abs. The part of me that's still Jaime really expected to die just then.

Paco stands up and runs over to me in his usual enthusiasm. I've missed seeing it. "Man! Running in like The Lone Ranger to save the day! Forget Superman!"

He hugs me, which makes me feel a little awkward, but I return the sentiment with a hearty slap on his back. "Uh, good to see you, Paco. Have you called the cops yet?"

Paco shakes his head. "Eddie told me not to, that—" his cousin cuts him off before he can finish.

"The cops? They won't come here; it's too vicious. They get killed down here, knowhamean? Now who the hell are you an' how's Paco know you, cuz I don't know you!" Eddie begins to freak out, and levels his shotgun, charging it again… but I don't buy his story even a little bit.

"One - Dude, this is El Paso, not Compton. Two – I'm his friend from school. Three – You _just_ hit me with that and I wasn't even scratched. I'm on YOUR side, okay? Now if we can agree to calm down and maybe to stop shooting me—"

Gunfire opens up again and starts tearing through the home. Without thinking about it, I leap and tackle Paco to the ground just as the wall he stood beside gets a large hole where I just vacated him. Paco also notices this I'm guessing, as plaster falls over him. It takes him a second to register his near-death experience before he finds his voice, "…thanks, man,"

I shrug dismissively as I get back up and look out the window. One car is next to the house when three new cars burn asphalt as they screech to a halt and get out, opening fire on both the new car and the two gang bangers from earlier who now smartly hide beneath their overturned car s bullets rain at them. I hear some yelling over the gunfire, but I can't quite make it out. Judging by the inflection, I'm sure I get the four-letter-word concept.

It does not require a genius, though, to deduce that Eddie pissed some people off … and Eddie's crew just showed up to level the playing field.

"Jaime," I hear whispered.

"One sec, Paco!" I tell him, as I stand up and rush for the door.

"Jaime!" he yells, assertively. I turn and look. Eddie is lying on the ground, blood pooling rapidly from a bullet that went through his skull. I'm guessing he didn't duck. I stare for several long, excruciating moments. Somehow I don't think that image will leave any day soon.

"I need to stop this," I whisper to him quietly. Paco just watches me go and nods his head in understanding, however shell-shocked.

Paco crawls over to Eddie and grabs his shotgun, before he scuttles back away from Eddie's corpse. Setting down the shotgun next to him, Paco puts his hands over his head for safekeeping apparently. "Kick their ass," he mutters under his breath and waits for the bullets to stop.

Eddie's front window shatters as I jump straight through it to the street outside. I land on the sidewalk and take another massive leap to clear the vehicle that is firing on Paco in Eddie's place. I turn towards the people there as gunfire ricochets off me or passes me entirely and sends collateral shots into the house – smart work, Eddie's Guys. "Maybe fire _away_ from the guy you're protecting!" I scream at dearly departed Eddie's avenging crew.

The six people behind the car attacking Eddie's place all look understandably edgy as I stand on the opposite side of their car. Their hesitancy is over-ridden surprisingly quick and they all start shooting at me, because it worked so well last time.

One of them focuses an assault rifle on me and opens fire. Where the hell did he even get that? I feel the power welling up in me. I feel the Scarab scream and squawk, furiously pissed. I feel my arm get heavy, and I point it right at their car against my will as rings start to form and roll down my arm, forming a cannon.

They see a light start to glow from my arm. So do I for that matter. "Ohno—get out of the way!" I cry to them and they roll desperately away as my arm releases its cannonball of lightning. The impact detonates the vehicle, sending it flying several feet off of the ground before it returns to the earth in a smoking, mangled heap. I turn towards the rest and kneel down, focusing.

"You did this trick before too… shieldshieldshieldshieldshield…" I desperately pray. Prayers are answered, as wings form on my wrists and merge into a giant circular shield in front of me. Bullets collide with it and just stop, taking their onslaught as I wait for the outpour of fire to stop.

I hear sirens getting closer and I just press on. "Knock … it… OFF already!" I cry out to them angrily. My arms snap apart and the wings press onto my back. Without having to think it, I find myself leaping high into the air. The wings flap just once … and then sweep all the way back to allow me to plummet straight down.

I aim the landing, sending both feet into the center one of the three 'cavalry' vehicles. As I come down, people leap free of the car, in time to see me collide with it and cave it in. The wings tear loose from my arms and soar into the opposing vehicles like five-foot-tall shurikens, tearing the vehicles into shreds. I just sort of stare.

The wings fly back around as the gangbangers all flee the scene rapidly, just in time for the police to pull onto the street. They reconnect to my back and I leap in through the window to find Paco before the cops can spot me.

He greets me as I land when he releases another buckshot blast from the shotgun into my chest. The impact kicks but I don't feel it. "Stop SHOOTING me!" I yell angrily, and buckle to my knees.

"Is it over?" Paco asks. "Uh, sorry, by the way."

I nod my head, as my armor prepares to pull into me and I gasp. "Yeah, and the cops are already here. No time to run. I'm a stay with you. Back up your story. What is your story?"

Paco is quiet for a second, thinking. "Eddie said he was gonna have a barbeque. I came by for it, brought you with me. Usual thing. Then they roll up here. We don't know why."

"Got it," I submit before screaming briefly, shoving my hand over my mouth to contain the pain as the armor disappears beneath the surface. Sweating and dizzy, I gasp and force myself to focus through the overwhelming sensations.

"But you do know why, don't you?" I ask Paco. He doesn't answer. That's all the answer I need, I think.

Rex Trailer Home; Socorro, Texas

There is a run down parking stop that caters to all manners of RVs and Trailers, where societal pariahs, runaways, restless spirits and aimless wanderers all come to call home for at least a few days. The entrance is marked by a large neon sign reading 'REX TRAILER HOME, WELCOME!'.

Among the swath of vehicles is a long silver trailer with all the lights off inside except for the soft glow of a television within.

Labeling on the trailer door reads 'Driscoll' with a mail drop directly below it, as if somehow UPS might get the idea to hunt them down.

Inside the mobile home, the television is jumping channels with haste. Klik. Klik. Klik. Klik. MVH2's Behind the Song… Klik. Klik. The channel flashes to some old rerun that suddenly interrupts with a news broadcast, which he stops on just as the anchor begins excitedly speaking.

_Breaking News! A large upset between two gangs tonight led to three people dead and many more with serious injuries. However, what really makes this story take a new light is the appearance of a new hero of El Paso's own._ the television squawks out while a teenaged right-arm amputee looks on, setting down the remote he'd been abusing just moments ago.

The teen sits forward as they begin to stream a video of a weirdly armored hero, interest piqued. _Described by eyewitnesses as a giant blue-armored bug man, shown here in a video taken by a neighbor… _

"Hey, mom, come here!" he calls out, to a silent response.

"Something cool's on," he adds.

"What's that, Cody?" his mother responds, walking over with a bowl of cereal to sit next to him on their couch.

_…calling himself Blue Beetle, this hero proceeded to get in-between both sides and stop further serious injuries, fighting both parties into submission. Beyond those injured, his actions allowed the Police to take into custody nine members…_

Cody seems excited by the program and turns to his mom to explain it, "I heard about this guy… it's the New Blue Beetle, he's a superhero and it looks like he's from El Paso. Maybe I—"

His mother cuts him off quickly. "I thought we agreed … you're retired. It's why we moved from Colorado. Too much history and—"

"Yeah, I know," Cody bitterly frowns and raises the remote, changing the channel.

El Paso Texas Police Station

"—that's all we're going to need, Mr. Reyes. You can go," the Officer allows, leading me out of the interrogation room. Outside, in the waiting area, Paco is still sitting there, biding his time.

What strikes me as strange is that Paco's biding his time by talking to my dad, who sits next to him. My dad is all kinds of smiles, which I hope is a good sign. I don't know for sure and so proceed with caution, hands in my pockets as I walk over to them both. "Hey," I greet them both noncommittally, with a feigned smile.

"Jaime!" my dad calls, standing and covering the distance to hug me tight. I resist for just a moment … and find myself collapsing into it, and like a kid I bury my face into his shoulder. I hold tight to him for a good while.

Paco just waves at me from behind my dad as he stands up from the chair.

Finally, dad lets me go and I relax from the grip. He slaps me on the shoulder and beams at me when he speaks, "I'm proud of you, Jaime. You were really there for your friend." My eyes pop open and I look to Paco, who shakes his head fervently.

"…well, I just … he called and I went, so I'm – I'm not in trouble for skipping out on the grounding thing?" I ask, with hope in my voice. I was dreading it.

Dad shakes his head to that. "Oh, you're in trouble alright. But I think I'm a get you an X-Box. To pass the time in your room."

My dad loops an arm around my shoulder and starts leading us out of the precinct. "I'm sorry to hear about your cousin, Paco, but sounds like he got into trouble," he offers in condolence before moving on to lighter matters.

"I'll buy you boys a pizza and drop you off at home, Paco, before Jaime comes back to the house. He's not allowed to go out after classes are done, so you're going to have to come over to see Jaime from now on…" my father continues to lay it on thick while I just sort of stand there in shocked silence. Just what did Paco tell him? Obviously not that I was the Blue Beetle, but … I guess he could've said some stuff about what I did. And how I lost my bicycle. Well. 'Lost' is not the right word, really more of a 'destroyed'.

Life might be on an upswing. I think things are finally turning around for me.

Unless something unexpected shows up, I guess…

entering Earth's atmosphere somewhere above the Central United States

A surge occurred approximately three weeks ago. Sensors screamed and alerted a being half-way across the universe. Even at the fastest his ship can move it took him just this long to approach the Milky Way Galaxy, of the Virgo Supercluster. Screams and cries echo throughout the ship in a mangled unison from a hundred different creatures while klaxons blare.

Sirens flare to warn them of the dangers of re-entry, gravity re-asserting itself in the ship and heat shields rising over viewports to protect the vessel from tearing apart. The ship stops suddenly miles above Earth, staring over a large swath of ground. The ship harmonizes data while the alien within taps at keys, --Confirm Landing.--

The vessel descends rapidly, a blur of grasslands and buildings moving behind it as it lands somewhere in plains. The computer Bleeps as they come to a complete stop and de-pressurize the ship. The hatch opens, dropping to allow a ramp downward and free of the knife-shaped vessel that spans approximately seventy feet long by twenty high.

The computer chimes once more.

--Local area name: Las Cruces, New Mexico.--

The alien steps free of the dark ship, revealing a tightly-muscled, lithe four-armed female. Free of eyes, ear or mouth, her 'hair' is a clump of fleshy tendrils.

--Confirmed: Proceeding on foot. Activating Cloak. Nearest target: South by South-East--

The ship disappears from view in a ripple of air, as the alien woman rushes into the night.

END

Wait, isn't that 'one-armed guy named Cody Driscoll' also known as ex-Titan Risk? Why is Risk in this issue? And where are those evil eyeless guys, anyway? What's with this Xeno guy? What's going on in his dreams? Can I think up any other questions that are even vaguely pertinent (answer: no)?

All this (maybe!) and more when Jaime graduates high school and meets his first enemy, Xeno!

See you next month, and remember, to those about to rock: We salute you.

-Bowie

Note from the Author: I strongly believe we should rename Cody Driscoll aka 'Risk' to something more appropriate for the chance-taking amputeed hero. "One-Armed Bandit" maybe?


	4. Chapter 3

PREVIOUSLY … Jaime Reyes gained a powerful scarab in the wake of the wizard Shazam!'s death. With it, Jaime transformed into an armored super-human and saved the world as Blue Beetle. Returning home, Jaime finds he's missed a week of his life … and prom. Since, he has come out to his friends with his secret, seen eyeless freaks no one else can and been grounded until graduation, though he broke that curfew two weeks ago to save best friend Paco as Blue Beetle from a gang war.

NOTE: This story takes place during the One Year Gap.

------

Imagine waking up to find an ancient living artifact had grafted itself to you. Imagine that it granted you unbelievable and unexplained powers, making you fill shoes you never wanted. Imagine being a teenager who saved the world only to have to explain it to your parents. Imagine if your world was forever changed. Sound cool? He'll trade you.

BLUE BEETLE: DCINFINITY

vol. 1, issue 3: "Ceremonial Sacrifice"

written by Bowie Sessions

"My fate cannot be mastered; it can only be collaborated with and thereby, to some extent, directed. Nor am I the captain of my soul; I am only its noisiest passenger."

– Aldous Huxley

Bowie High Campus

My family is doing nothing but talking about how proud they are of me, about how they want me to pick a school near them so I can still see them whenever they miss me … well, they put it as 'whenever I miss them', but I get the secret Parent Code.

Personally, I think the Black Robe and Tassel-swinging Graduation Cap isn't exactly the best fashion statement, but it's nice to wear it. The uniform means freedom.

To her credit, Milagro's not doing much of anything except looking already bored as we walk up onto the field that will see me graduating this place. I can think of the Wizard of Oz right now, when it comes to my baby sister. _I'll miss you most of all, Tin-man. _Or whoever she misses most. I forget the specifics.

"We're _out of_ this place!" Paco calls out joyously as he slings his arm around me, running up from behind. He punches me in the side playfully, and I can't help but grin. Paco's been there for me these past two weeks, wanting to know every detail about the attack on Brother Eye, listening about Booster Gold bugging me on the bus, and wanting me to introduce him to Supergirl… in short, he's been my friend. I needed that.

It's Brenda, who walks up from behind Paco, which makes my mile-wide smile disintegrate a little bit. I slap Paco on the back in a return of those congratulations. "One sec," I offer him as I walk over to Brenda. He doesn't give me that space, though, as he hangs on my tail. Like the Robin to my Batman.

"Hey, Jaime," she says as I walk in front of her, stopping her path. She gives a feigned little smile and nervously brushes a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, whatever. Brenda, look, we're all about to go separate ways, this is our last summer, I just – I want to know why you're doing this. We been friends since second grade, and—" she clears her throat and I shut up. I'd put my hands in my pockets but the robe precludes that. Left with an awkward lack of placement, I end up crossing my arms.

She shrugs her shoulders. "It's just … I mean, Paco's been telling me about how you and … well, how cool it is and all…"

"Ain't _that the truth_. I feel like France right now. And you guys are all renaming your food 'Freedom Fries' cuz I refuse to participate in either side of the war…" Paco interjects helpfully.

She finishes, eyeing my family who watches, trying to coach her words from spoiling my secret. I appreciate it. "But it's … really scary. Like, Frankenstein scary."

"I swear I'm still the old Jaime, Brenda. I swear, okay? Just say you'll go on that road-trip and give us a chance, okay? I'm so tired of giving you space to figure out what's up with our friendship, y'know?"

She smiles at that, and nods. "Okay," she says. Then, suddenly, she hugs me. I seem surprised, but give her a hug back. Paco rushes in to join, and grabs us both, hoisting us both up off our feet with a squeak emitted from us both.

Mom raises the camera quickly, aims, and presses its button.

_KLIK_.

Socorro, Texas

_KLIK. KLIK._

Cody Driscoll was a Teen Titan, a hybrid alien spliced with human DNA to create a man who is ten times as good as a human at anything. Smarter, faster, stronger. During the Infinite Crisis, even the abilities of ten men were nothing compared to a crazed Superboy. Facing this disaster, Cody stood strong and for it had his arm ripped out of its socket. His name as a hero was 'Risk'. He took them, you see. Risks don't always pan out.

Tears are in Cody's eyes as he lies on his back against what remains of the wall in his trailer. The silver bullet style trailer lies in shreds, with his mother laying still in a mess of her own blood on the devastated front steps.

Risk stares up into the eyes of the alien huntress that approaches, every bullet simply impacting her skin and doing nothing more than maybe bruising. "Please stop…" he whispers, and she snaps her four arms down. Three of them spear him in non-vital areas with the blades bound in them. The last grips a pipe on the ceiling and pulls her up, to allow her to mule-kick him in the chest.

Sent flying through what remains of the shredded wall and outside, Cody hits the ground, blood seeping from his lips and his wounds before his eyes waver … and close.

The alien huntress rubs her forearms together. A sharp, subsonic vibration shudders through the air.

Bowie High Campus

Shaking hands and giving each other their last warm hugs, Jaime Reyes fell back as he watched Paco Gutierrez and Brenda McCarter pass him by in the organized line of students, who all file into their places and assigned seats in the bleachers. We've been training for this for two days, to make sure we got it down right. To make sure it looked right.

So that for the rest of our lives we remember today. I hope not.

I wave at my parents who tape me. "Thank God they relaxed."

Anna looks over my way. I met all the R-named people on Wednesday that I didn't know. "Where _did_ you go for a week?" she asks, nosing into the conversations I've had with Andy. Or, at least, the ones which we spoke in English.

"Just went for a drive. Ever have to … figure out who you are?" I ask, quietly. It's not a lie – but it's not where I was.

"Nope," Andy disagrees, making a little air-kiss motion to his girlfriend five rows away.

"Conclusive. You two aren't related," Anna whispers conspiratorially as the ceremony begins.

Socorro, Texas

The tall, freakish alien woman walks into waist-high grass in an untamed field. She sheathes a blade and extends the one bare hand into the open air, feeling for something. She seems to sense an object, her tendrils quivering with attentiveness from where they lay down the length of her neck, parting to reveal the depression at the base of her skull.

She stops, suddenly, her hand finding contact. --Biometrics recognized. Opening hatch.--

From thin air, a door slides open, revealing a staircase and a hallway within this expanse of emptiness. She walks up the stairs, dragging behind her the bloodied form of the ex-Titan known as Risk.

--Opening Containment Storage,-- it reads as she brings the body of Risk into the cell and steps back. The cell seals, a curtain of electricity covering the air between her and the prisoner. Above Risk is another level, and another level of cells. To his left and his right are row upon row of the same. The ship extends straight down to a pilot area, and in its rear most quarters foodstuffs.

--Entity does not match identified target.--

The alien huntress turns her head in a curious quirking.

--Identified target within range of sensors. Distance to Target: 15.3 miles.--

The huntress removes her two knives from their sheathes and moves quickly to the hatch.

--Confirmed: Proceeding on Foot. West by South-West.—

Inside, Risk's eyes blink open to take in his surroundings. Reaching limply to his belt, he presses a small button on his belt-buckle. A small red 'T' glows.

Bowie High Campus

"Principal… Vice Principal… Faculty… Students… Mom, Dad, all the other parents here … you have set a shining example of leadership in a world in the wake of such disasters. This school has the most patriotic message of any school in the country, and you showed us that spirit when guiding us especially this last year when so many families and cities felt the pain of a war from those we trusted above us—"

I totally stop paying attention. Deliver me from this total idiot. I look around quietly, and meet Brenda's eyes. I smile to her, brightly, and she returns it. It's good that she'll admit I exist. Maybe things are going to work out from here.

Maybe I _will_ go to Stanford. Business Management or something… I don't know. Things'll work out. They always do, right?

Titans HQ, San Francisco

A single alarm sounds. A distress signal. The computer identifies its user: RISK / CODY DRISCOLL. LOCATION: EL PASO, TEXAS

The map forms the coordinates. The street crossroad.

A green hand comes to slap the computer's over-ride. "Titans Together, right?" the hand's owner says quietly, his voice tired.

Bowie High Campus

The applause is intermittent and waning, as they gain higher and higher alphabetical order. People get tired of clapping somewhere after Golightly, David. "Ravi, Jennifer," they call out in the continued flow of applause.

"Redding, Vance. Rehbeing, Tara. Reid, Craig. Reitze, Shannon. Rene, Adena." I can feel the pressure and excitement surge in me. One, I'm about to graduate high school. Two, I'm about to finally stop being grounded by my parents. 'Until graduation' they said, after-all.

"Reyes, Andrew," they call out and I tense up. It's me up next, and I stand up in preparation. Me and Andy, no relation.

"Reyes, Jaime," they call out and I smile as I walk up to the Principal, who gives me the most important piece of paper in my life thus far and shakes my hand. I wave to the crowd and my parents, who seem squealing with glee. Milagro cheers, too, until I catch her doing it. Brat.

"Ribichini, Anna," I hear called out behind me as I begin walking to the other end of the stage. I can't believe I'm finally a graduate. It's about time. But now I'm worried. I told Dad I'd take a semester off before college, but I'm not sure I mean it. I don't know if I'm ready… and the questions are going to start the second we get in the car. If they can even wait that long.

"Rivera, Kyle," is the next name called as I make it to the end of the stage. I'm about to step down it when I hear screams. My head snaps up and the ceremony turns to silence. I see it in the crowd as it comes surging forward. I hear someone collapse to the ground from wounds, fully aware this thing has a sword in its hand.

…hands. All four of them. What the hell is this thing? It's got no eyes, no mouth, no nose and no ears. It's just got like … a slope on front, and these stalks for hair. Four arms, claw-pincer looking hands … this thing is definitely not from around here. Frozen in place, I'm as scared as everyone else is. Come on, Beetle, come on…

The creature leaps onto stage, and stops. It spans its four arms wide and crouches, the tendrils it calls hair twitching as it seems to smell for something … and I believe it is.

With an agonizing cry, I collapse to my knees and watch a blue beetle-pack form from my vertebrae, snapping its bands around my chest and shoulders. I begin to stand back up, working through the pain as I regale the creature, which turns all four blades carried in its hands towards me.

"I'm guessing you're looking for me, then," I challenge it nervously. The crowd watches in horror, some screaming, some stunned. They just saw me transform into the Blue Beetle. On stage. In front of every person I've ever known. I think my secret is out a little bit.

I don't really expect the thing to be as good at jumping as it is, but this freaky alien-chick leaps across the entire stage and straight into me. All four blades stick inside of me and I scream in pain, as they shear straight through my armor. I'm bleeding! I can feel me bleeding. Worse, the Beetle is bleeding and this thing whines like a baby when hurt.

"Uh, that … what did you just…" I can't seem to grasp what just happened. While still shocked, with this woman attached to me by her knives, she places her massive grasshopper-looking leg against my chest and pushes off, backflipping away and pulling all four of her knives out of my body in one fluid motion.

She lands with a graceful flourish, blue ichor and red blood dripping off her curved blades. I reach down to touch at my wounds, gasping quietly.

"Help!" I find myself screaming to the crowd. I don't know if I can handle this. I don't know if I am going to bleed to death, for that matter.

How sharp must that thing be to cut in like butter? Did she sharpen them to the atomic level or something crazy sci-fi like that? Because that slid right through me. This time, when she launches for me, I surrender to my co-pilot, trying to listen to the instincts it gives me.

I land on my back as she comes, and my feet both come up to mule-kick her in the face as she comes for me. The blow connects and sends her flying away from me, but she manages to swipe both her blades across me as she goes, cutting into my legs and causing a slow drip down the sides. I kip-up to a standing position to my surprise, and she comes for me again, shaking off the blow without concern. I threw a car two weeks ago, and my kicks didn't faze her. I'm kinda getting worried.

"Look, we can talk this out! You're an alien, I'm a freak, we can just – we can get a soda or something, and talk about it!" She doesn't say a word, and that's creeping me out. Then again, she has no mouth. This does make me wonder if she could actually _get_ a soda with me, theoretically. How does she eat? I might ask her when she stops trying to kill me.

My arms create the familiar shield-halves, which I bring together in front of me just in time for her to launch forward and stab all four knives into it. I'm staring at the back of my shield with horror. The knives came right through, an inch away from my face. I take this as my only chance, though, and before she can rip out her knives, I expand the shield desperately to have it clamp onto my back as wings.

"Uh, hi!" I greet nervously when the shield parts to let me see her. This parting tears her stabbed knives straight out of her four hands and leaves her off-balance in front of me. I jump desperately upward, wings flapping to yank me away.

As I launch airborne, I kick her in the face again, sending her crumbling to the ground. I start flapping my wings to escape her vicious attacks… but she doesn't give up so easily. She leaps, as well, and her velocity sends her high enough to catch me as I fly. More specifically, her hands capture the hilts of her knives that are still sticking out of my wings. What the HELL is this woman's motivation!

I quickly realize just what's about to happen. "Ohno, ohno, ohno…" I start panicking and try to make any kind of desperate maneuver I can to get her to fall off, but she holds tight. In fact, one of her four hands grasps the upper side of one of my hard wings for support as she takes two knives and rips them free … then stabs them in again above my shoulder blades and tears downward.

She literally shears my wings off my body. The Beetle screams in my mind, a jumble of cryptic glyphs scrolling past my eyes in its cries of horror. I'm doing my own screaming, though, as I sail into the graduation field face-first. She rides me in like a wave, and as the grass and dirt flies upon my impact, she leaps free and turns to face me.

I shakily begin to stand up, ichor sloughing off the stumps of my Scarab's wings still connected to me, and blood dripping down my back from where she carved in. "What did I ever do to you?" I ask, absolutely terrified and taking one step back when she makes one step forward.

Just as she prepares another pounce, I see she freezes in place. I take the chance to start charging up my arm, though I don't exactly know how my body makes that decision. Rings start dropping down my arm and growing in size, energy pulsing along its length.

Her 'hair' twitches, as if she senses a change in the wind.

Only seconds later, a black bubble appears in an explosion of mist. This bubble seems to part, as if a bird's sheltering wings pulled back from its child, revealing a green guy, some kind of archer and a Goth chick in robes.

I recognize them as Beast Boy, … some archer chick … and Raven, of the Teen Titans.

"Duck!" I cry to them, who seem all a little shaken from the trip. The arm is already pulsing with power, formed into the familiar cannon, and I can't really stop it now. This isn't so much a me-in-control kind of deal.

Appropriately, Beast Boy, Raven and – idunno, Arrowette or something – leap out of the way and my arm releases its charge. I don't know what's worse. That I almost took out the Titans, or that this alien woman is actually able to out-maneuver a ball of lightning. The physics student in me stumbles at the concept, as she leaps sky-high the very second it creates a crater in the Earth where she stood.

"Titans, scatter!" I hear Beast Boy yell out to them. Give it multiple targets I guess.

"How did you get here? Do you have Risk's beacon?" he yells at me as they flank the alien chick, who stands stock-still as soon as she lands again, appraising her enemy just as we appraise her.

I'm a little in-the-heat-of-the-moment here, but I try to understand what he just asked. "Whowhatnow? I don't have anything! It _attacked me_! At _my_ graduation!" I tell him, defensively. I'm a little used to superheroes attacking and threatening me these days.

"Then where is--" and as Raven asks this follow-up, she stops to close her eyes and expand her senses or something. I'm not quite sure what she's doing, but it looks significantly like meditating in the middle of battle.

"Give her cover. I'm the rabbit!" Beast Boy calls out informatively as he turns into a green-skinned tiger and launches straight for Xeno.

I feel more than a little out-classed here, and just sort of stand there as if I'm waiting to be told what to do. Because I am. I've never done this whole … super-fight thing, not counting when Green Lantern tried to pile-drive me. And I really didn't know what I was doing at the time.

The alien slices for Beast Boy, who manages to duck just under its range as he tries to run circles around her. "Little help here!" he calls out, and I think he's talking to his archer-girl. Arrowette?

It seems he is, anyway, when she knocks an arrow and sends it flying for the alien. "Screw you, Xeno," she mutters darkly.

The alien – Xeno? Is that its name? -- leaps backward and free of Beast Boy's claw-swipe, and easily free of the arrow. What scares me most is that mid-leap and for no good reason she catches the arrow in a pincer while it flies to where she just was. Landing with inhuman grace, she snaps the arrow in one hand and moves to stab its arrow-head into the outmaneuvered Beast Boy's right flank. He cries out primally, and Xeno tears it back out of him, making him cry again. Beast Boy leaps skyward and transforms into a hawk, to gain some added speed.

I see her aim a knife on him and prepare to hurl it. I can't do this anymore. "Hold on!" I call out to them supportively and launch myself into the way of Xeno just as she throws the knife for him. The result finds the super-sharpened knife slicing right into my shoulder. In the toughest moment of my life ever, I close the distance, ignoring the outpour of blood and punch her in the face, with a follow-up rushing to strike her in the stomach.

Xeno returns the strikes. Her other knife, having had only two from the four she started with, rushes for my chest and I catch her wrists with my hand. I hold it tight and crush her wrist with my hand. She doesn't scream, but I think if she had a mouth, she would. "Now! Shoot her now!" I scream out desperately as I hold her in place.

I see Arrowette knock her next arrow and let it fly. The thing soars across the distance and strikes directly at the base of her head. Xeno stops struggling, stumbles for a second in my grip and then collapses to the ground.

No blood or anything. How tough is this thing's skin? But it sure is out like a light. "It looked like a soft spot. Under the, uh, tendrils," Arrowette explains, while I stare. Beast Boy lands and returns to the human form, holding his bleeding side.

The world calms for a minute, even as every person I've ever known stares on in horror or has run for their lives. I try to ignore the fact we're in the middle of my destroyed life.

"I'm Beast Boy, this is Speedy, and she's—" Beast Boy tries to explain, looking for Raven. Fortunately, she seems to introduce herself a second later. Speedy points at my shoulder, and I look down at it. I wince at the sight of the knife still in it, and yank it out. I cry out again at the pain.

"ABOVE YOU," Raven cries out. We all look skyward as one, and so do any bystanders who stayed, to see the shadow-form of Raven above. I wish I were regal, like her. I just scream like a girl a lot whenever something bad happens, and shoot electricity at them.

Speedy looks around funny, as Beast Boy turns into a hawk again to soar skyward. "Hey, I can't fly either—" I start to try to kind of bridge that gap as the stumps on my back start to shudder. She looks at me, and I realize … the wing-things Xeno cut off are growing back, regenerating in the span of seconds to beat again once and floating me off the ground.

It occurs to me … my legs don't hurt and neither does my chest. I'm healed already? And so is the Beetle? "Or … I also can," I tell her with some surprise. I grab Xeno and throw her over my shoulder, and look to Speedy.

"Want to hold on?" I ask, and reluctantly she shrugs and clings to me. My massive wings start beating against the wind and I sail skyward, pointing my free hand skyward in my best Superman pose. It feels a _little_ regal.

"It bars entry," Raven explains to us the second we arrive, floating in the air before them with a steady stroking beat of my two massive wings. Beast Boy is perched on the top of the ship.

I fly closer, just to look at it, and we're all looking around as if we need some kind of plan. They all keep looking at Raven. "I tried," she says.

"It bars entry, I said. I can't – get inside of it."

If I wasn't flying, or if I didn't have a full body encasing of this beetle carapace, I might not feel as stupid scratching my head. Seeing as both those things are variables, however, I admit to feeling pretty stupid when I do it.

"Why'd you bring her?" Speedy asks, finally.

"I don't know. In case she wakes up. Her name is Xeno?"

"No," Speedy tells me. "I just – I got tired of calling her 'the alien'. Xeno means 'alien', so..."

A longer silence. They all start looking at me as if I know. I guess they all know each other's powers and are hoping for some miracle. "I don't have a _clue_ what I'm doing, don't look at—" My words, however, are cut off when the ship suddenly erupts into flight. Engines lighting up and it begins accelerating.

Instinct takes over and I fly straight at the ship and cling onto it. The ship responds… it speaks. --Biometrics positive. Opening hatch.--

True to its word, the ship slows – but doesn't stop – and opens the hatch door to allow us in. I pull Speedy in with me, and both Raven and Beast Boy rush inside after us. We land in some kind of cargo bay, and the door seals behind us.

--Initiating warp protocols,-- it calls out matter-of-factly. That does not sound good.

"We need to find Risk, now," Beast Boy takes control of the situation quickly and Speedy detaches from me with an awkward smile and rushes off, Raven using her power in a soft glow over her form before she points her hand.

"He is down that corridor."

The ship starts to shake, and blur. We all understand the importance of the moment and Beast Boy lopes down the hall in the form of a Cheetah while I race after on-foot at my incredible speeds. Row after row of walls are packed, top to bottom, with what are obviously aliens. Dangerous, obscure looking beings. I don't know what to say. Do I tell them we need to help them all? But where would we take them – Earth? I don't know. I'd tell the Green Lanterns, but I'm thinking No in my case. Neither of us, however, beat Raven who appears directly before us in an eruption of shadow.

I don't pause, as we see Risk sitting behind an electrical field. I reach out and touch it. I scream for only one second before the power suddenly channels through me, the horns of my armor arcing as they contain the power. The draining takes only a few seconds before the entire place's fields shut down, releasing untold scores of aliens.

Raven only has enough time to sweep us up in a cloak of shadow, and release us from it … before the ship becomes a blur of motion and makes just one Blip as it disappears into the horizon.

We re-appear in the sky. It takes a second before gravity realizes we're there and we start to plummet. Raven soars free, Beast Boy becomes a bird again – leaving me to pick up the slack. I soar after the falling forms of Speedy and of Risk, to snatch them in my arms and lower us all safely to the fields below.

I made sure to aim for somewhere far away from the graduation field. I think I might just … not go back there for a little while.

"Thanks," Speedy breathes, but Risk is still a little too unconscious to answer.

Beast Boy lands, followed by Raven, and we're left with the adrenaline of moments ago. 'Thanks," is the first thing Beast Boy manages, before he realizes something. "Where's Xeno?"

"I had to set her down to do the power-thing to get Risk out, and then we just … poof. I guess … she's still on her ship…" I swear at myself for that. I let the bad guy escape. My first super-fight and I let the bad guy get away.

Raven starts to breathe, trying to concentrate her will and her power for another jump from here to San Francisco, I guess. I think that's where the Titans stay. I can see she's hurting from all the power she's used tonight.

"Hey, look," Beast Boy begins, as he walks out of their little circle over to see me. I look up curiously, and he continues. "…you look a little … lost and – I saw you kinda got exposed back there, and I just … I wanted to let you know. If you wanted somewhere to belong, we'd be happy to have you in San Francisco sometime."

He extends his hand. "I didn't catch your name," he tells me.

It takes me a long moment. I have to realize my entire life just disappeared, and the very fabric of what made up my reality has been drastically changed. That I am forever This to anyone I've ever known. I take his hand. "It's … Jaime. I'd like that."

"Gar." He steps back and smiles.

They're gone in a mist of black.

Just like life as I knew it.

END

What does Jaime do post-graduation – and has he really joined the Teen Titans? So uh … what happens now?

All this (maybe!) and more when we catch up to continuity, struggling with both family who are less than happy with their son the hero … and with those weird eyeless freaks!

See you next month, post-OYL, and remember, to those about to rock: We salute you.

-Bowie

Note from the Author: This is the last of the pre-OYL events, just the first three weeks of post-Crisis. The next issue covers some gaps, but leaves most of it to 52. From here out? Post-OYL. Additionally, I should mention that being last-named "Sessions", I despise people with low-alphabet names for their alphanumeric superiority when it comes to organized events. I should change my name. I'm going to be "Bowie Aaron" now. Or "Aardvark". Can we do things in Reverse Alphabetical Order just once? Jerks.


End file.
